"Emperor Of heaven, Emperor of the Earth, don't surprise my little boy." Don't panic, I have Qi Ye to resist..." During the Ming Dynasty, a song and ballad circulated in the southeast coastal area. The "Qi Ye" in this song refers to Qi Jiguang, the hero of the Ming Dynasty' resistance against the Wu Dynasty.
Nowadays, there is still a story of "Qi Jiguang killing his son" in Fujian, Zhejiang and other places.
One
There are two versions of this story.
One version took place in Fujian.
This version says: One year, Qi Jiguang commanded the battle in Putian, Fujian Province, and ordered an attack on Wukou. At that time, the vanguard was Qi Jiguang's son Qi Yin. When Qi Yin led the troops to attack, smoke suddenly rose, and he could not see his five fingers. Qi Yin walked for a while, worried that the large army led by Qi Jiguang had not followed, and his own troops had become a lone army, so they stopped and did not move, and sent people back to check. Qi Jiguang was furious and immediately beheaded Qi Yin in front of the line for the crime of "retreating from the front".
The Fujian "Xianyou County Chronicle" records: "When Qi Gong went to Putian, he would send out a division, and the smoke would be blocked, and his son would be printed as a pioneer, and he would return to the horse, and ask for a garrison, and the public angered him for violating the order, and killed him." ”
One version took place in Zhejiang.
This version says: One year, when Qi Jiguang was resisting the Wukou in the Haimen area of Taizhou, he ordered his son Qi Yin to set up an ambush in the Guanyan area of Linhai Xixiang, pretend to be defeated, and lead the Wukou to the ambush circle, and when all the Wukou entered the encirclement, he would attack back and forth and annihilate them in one fell swoop. However, Qi Yin was so earnest that he ordered the enemy to be killed before all the Wokou entered the encirclement, causing some of the Wokou to escape from the encirclement. Afterwards, Qi Jiguang, on the grounds that Qi Yin did not act according to military orders, pushed him out to behead him despite the dissuasion of his generals.
In order to remember Qi Yin, the people of Taizhou built a Taiwei Hall for him on the Changfeng Ridge outside taizhou capital, and the ruins of the Taiwei Hall still exist today.
In addition, shen Defu, a literary scholar from the Wanli to Chongzhen dynasties of the Ming Dynasty, also mentioned the matter of "Qi Jiguang killing his son" in his "Compilation of Wanli Ye": "When qi Jiguang beheaded his son, the great general of this dynasty, he was defeated. Shen Defu believed that Qi Jiguang beheaded his son because his son had lost the battle.
These stories have also been adapted into Peking Opera, Min Opera, Qin Opera and other operas, which have been widely circulated. The famous Peking Opera performing arts Li Wanchun once rehearsed a play "Qi Jiguang Chop", played by him as Qi Jiguang, and his eldest son Li Xiaochun as Qi Jiguang's son Qi Yin.
Two
So, is it true that Qi Jiguang killed his own son for the sake of strict military discipline?
First of all, it is certain that Qi Jiguang's military discipline is indeed very strict.
We know that Qi Jiguang was on a par with Yue Fei, a famous general of the Southern Song Dynasty. Yue Fei formed an army, the "Yue Family Army," known for its strict military discipline, and was known as "shaking the mountains easily, shaking the Yue family's army difficulties"; Qi Jiguang also formed an army, the "Qi Family Army," which also paid attention to military discipline.
Initially, when Qi Jiguang was ordered to Shandong to resist the Wukou, he found that the Ming Army's discipline was lax, the soldiers were not accustomed to fighting, and the combat effectiveness was extremely low, and they were not the opponents of the Wukou at all. Therefore, Qi Jiguang simply went to Jinhua, Yiwu and other places to recruit more than 3,000 peasants and start military training from scratch. This was the later "Qi Family Army".
Qi Jiguang formulated strict military discipline and required all officers and men to strictly enforce it. To this end, he specially wrote a "New Book of Ji Xiao" in more popular language, which particularly emphasized the role of reward and punishment in governing the army, and pointed out the fair principle of "reward does not avoid revenge, and punishment does not avoid relatives": "Where rewards and punishments are rewarded, the military must have the authority." If the reward is to be given to the wrongdoer who usually wants to harm me, merit is also a reward, and if there is suffering, it is also support and care; if a military order is violated, it is my parent-child nephew, and it must also be carried out according to law, and never interfere with enmity. ”
However, historians generally believe that there is no story of "Qi Jiguang killing his son" in history.
In the study of Qi Jiguang's important documents, whether it is the "History of Ming", "Records of Crimes", "The Small Biography of the Great General Meng Zhugong of Qi", or the "Tomb Inscription of Meng Zhuqi Cemetery", "Qi Shaobao's Chronology", etc., no original record of this story has been found. If this story really exists, it is impossible to leave all this literature out.
When the famous historian Guo Moruo wrote "The Bronze Age" in 1945, he judged that "Qi Jiguang killed his son" may be fictional. Later, Guo Moruo wrote a special article "Continuing to Talk about "Qi Jiguang Chopping"", believing that the story of "Qi Jiguang Killing Son" was not established.
This is not only Guo Moruo's view, but also the view of many historians.
According to Qi Jiguang's epitaph and chronology, Qi Jiguang had 5 sons, Nameless, Qi Zuoguo, Qi Anguo, Qi Baoguo, Qi Changguo, and Qi Xingguo, but these 5 sons were all born after Qi Jiguang was 50 years old. At that time, Qi Jiguang had already pacified Wukou and was transferred to the northern region to guard Jizhou, Yongping, Shanhai and other places. That is to say, when Qi Jiguang fought against the Wokou, he had no heirs around him. Because of this, he would go to Xinghua Nine Carp Lake in 1563 to pray for the Nine Carp Immortals and pray for "the worry of continuity".
Could it be that Qi Jiguang killed not his own son, but his nephew?
Qi Jiguang has a younger brother named Qi Jimei. Qi Jimei had a son, whose year of birth and death is unknown, and died of illness. Qi Jimei's two sons were heartbroken and died of illness. Therefore, this argument does not hold.
In fact, in Fujian and Zhejiang, there are many fictional stories about Qi Jiguang, such as "Heavy Responsibility for Uncle Niang", "Tears To Chop Zhao Wu", and "Anger and Punishment of Relatives". These stories express the praise of the local people for Qi Jiguang's harsh rule of the army and the punishment of relatives.